Run with MeeGo

The MeeGo Project has had multiple releases and has progressed
significantly since its announcement in February 2010.
This article provides an overview
of the MeeGo Project for newcomers, a review of the benefits
MeeGo provides to the players in the mobile ecosystem, and discusses
the features in the latest MeeGo 1.1 release, announced October
28, 2010.

Introduction to MeeGo

MeeGo is an open, collaborative project between the project founders
(Nokia and Intel), the Open Source community and various commercial and
noncommercial partners with the goals of accelerating the adoption of
Linux on a magnitude of client devices and enriching the technical Linux
platform as the platform of choice for mobile computing devices.

MeeGo is a Linux-based operating system built for the next generation
of computing devices across multiple hardware architectures. Different
from other mobile operating systems, MeeGo is an open-source platform
governed by best practices of open-source development. It includes the
following:

Core operating system.

User Interface (UI) libraries and tools.

References user experiences for multiple devices.

Standard set of application programming interfaces (APIs) across all target
device types.

A software development kit (SDK) that enables application developers to
develop, install, debug and run applications either on reference
devices or in an emulated environment.

MeeGo supports a magnitude of mobile client devices (handsets,
connected TVs, in-vehicle infotainment, Netbooks and tablets). It provides
choice and flexibility to create and deliver a uniquely differentiated
service offering. It's an unusual project in that it is aligned
closely with upstream projects, as MeeGo requires that submitted patches
also are submitted to the appropriate upstream project and are on a path
for acceptance. This development model has the great effect of improving
all upstream open-source projects used in MeeGo, and it guarantees a unified
technical approach led by the upstream projects.

MeeGo and Connected Devices

We all use mobile devices every day (such as Netbooks, connected TVs,
tablets,
in-vehicle infotainment and handsets). The power of these devices has reached
astounding levels with unheard of performance and capabilities. The goal of
the MeeGo Project is to develop the best software platform to go with these
devices.

How Does MeeGo Benefit the Mobile Ecosystem?

If you are an open-source developer, you will enjoy working on an
open-source mobile platform project that follows open-source development
practices. You will have full access to everything MeeGo, and you can rest
assured that any code contributed by MeeGo will be submitted to the
appropriate upstream open-source projects. From this perspective, every
other Linux mobile and desktop effort will benefit from MeeGo's work
and contributions.

If you are an application developer, you will enjoy working with a
single set of APIs across a number of client devices (handsets, tablets,
Netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment systems and connected TVs). You have
access to polished and easy-to-get-and-use developer tools and
infrastructure. In addition, there are open forums where you can engage in
discussions directly with the platform and tool creators, exchange
ideas and best practices and even participate in the evolution of the
platform. Plus, you will enjoy the flexibility of hosting your
applications in more than one application store.

If you are a device manufacturer or a wireless operator looking to
build and/or deploy devices with MeeGo, the project offers tremendous
opportunities. MeeGo is a democratic project with open access to all,
at all times. It is the only platform of its kind built with unparalleled
openness in the industry. It will accelerate your time to market, lower
the complexities involved in targeting multiple device types, allow
you to optimize the software stack and, most important, grant you an
equal right to participate in the evolution of the software platform.

MeeGo 2010 Milestones

Since the project announcement in February 2010, MeeGo
has delivered the core software platform in addition to three user
experience implementations (Netbook, handset and in-vehicle infotainment),
with several updates in between. Figure 1 provides the roadmap
of releases since the project's inception and Figure 2 offers the roadmap of
the release updates and what they included.

Figure 1. MeeGo Releases Since the Project's Announcement

Figure 2. MeeGo Release Updates

Between major releases, MeeGo offers updates that usually include
general operating system fixes to enhance the stability, compatibility,
security and visual quality of the devices running MeeGo. Between
MeeGo 1.0 (05/2010) and MeeGo 1.1 (10/2010), the MeeGo Project provided
three update releases that featured improvements to the MeeGo
core stack and the Netbook release.

The releases follow the six-month cycle promised by the project and are being
delivered on time.
The MeeGo source code repository is open for people to pull the source code
anytime they like, if they don't want to be restricted to the six-month
release cycle.
The release updates are available as necessary, depending on the
security/stability/compatibility updates. However, you don't need to wait
for the official update to become available, because you have access to the code
repository, and you can create an updated image from scratch for your target
device.

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